Sparring with Terrorists
by evenstar8705
Summary: Kira befriends the newest recruit to Shakaar's cell during the Occupation of Bajor. His name is Tahna Los and is a character that features in the early episodes DS9 later. This is a direct sequel to 'The Oldest Profession' so I encourage reading that first.


Kira decided she liked the new recruit Tahna Los. After the terrible loss of Sisica a few weeks earlier, she needed fresh perspective and focus. Tahna quickly sparked her interest. Anyone that Shakaar saw potential in was a good sign, but Tahna was different. He was a radical freedom fighter, quick to fire his weapon, and his aim was deadly accurate. He rose high and swift in the cell ranks. Kira reveled in some friendly rivalry.

Tahna became her favorite person to practice with. They engaged in combat training, especially CQC. She learned a few dirty tricks from him that Shakaar wouldn't usually approve of, but ever since her leader had let her down on a particular mission recently, there was a slight wedge growing between them. They said some prayers together and he had apologized, but Kira wasn't quite ready to grant him forgiveness yet.

_I wonder if Alled has managed to get reassigned back to Cardassia, _she found herself thinking. _Or if he is dead somewhere on Bajor. That idea doesn't thrill me, but the hard truth f the matter is he is part of the occupying forces oppressing my planet and people. I hope we never meet again. It would end badly for one of us if we did._

She became so agitated by her musings that she missed a few targets. She slammed her weapon on the ground childishly, but she just couldn't curb her temper and saw no real reason to do so. Their rag tag cell wasn't military. Displays of anger and frustration weren't a crime. In fact, Shakaar and Tahna laughed at her.

"Is something wrong, Kira?" Tahna taunted. "Usually our marks are much closer in comparison. Are you taking pity on me and letting me win today?"

"Of course not!"

"Good. I don't like being handed easy victories, especially not by you."

"What does that mean?"

"Come on, don't be modest! You're the best in the cell! He told me so," Tahna nodded at Shakaar.

"Did he now?"

Kira caught Shakaar's gaze in the tail of her eye. She noted his eyes darted away once he realized she was looking at him. His guilty body language didn't make her feel any better and had the opposite effect it should have on her. She wanted action, not silent penance. Men whined if women were emotional so why should they get to mope around for days or weeks doing or saying nothing about their feelings and making everyone around them uneasy? She tried to make it simple for them and wear her emotions on her sleeve and deal with them in the moment and move on. Maybe that's why she had so much trouble making friends and she should pout like Shakaar and expect things to magically get better with time.

Tahna was blissfully unaware of the tension, saying, "Go again, Kira! Give me your best this time! No distractions!"

"Are you going easy on me now?" she put her hands on her hips. "No double standards, Tahna!"

"I'm glad you saw through that," he grinned.

"Why are you testing me?" Kira bristled.

"To get that cute look on your face. You are adorable when you are angry. Has anyone ever told you that, Kira?"

"Cute?" Kira sputtered. "Cute? You're just trying to throw me off even more! It won't work!"

"Looks to me like it's working pretty well," Lupaza seemed to appear out of the ground just to give Kira a dig.

"Ugh!" Kira kicked up some dirt. "Why is everyone picking on me today?"

"It's just too fun!"

Tahna had a mischievous look in his eye. She hated to admit she loved it. She liked his blonde hair, blonder than Shakaar's. Blonde hair had always been her favorite of the hair types. He had blue eyes (another lucky preference) like Shakaar as well, yet they were not family. On paper, Kira should have been head over heels for her leader, but that would be like falling for her two dead brothers. They had known each other too long. She was a child when they met. They had seen the best and worst of one another, and tolerated the bad smells that inevitably came with living in such hardship with no running water to bathe in and no spare clothes in a cold cave. It was hard to foster romantic feelings in such rank conditions.

Shakaar was a farm boy turned into something of a noble outlaw. Tahna had come from a higher caste of Bajoran society. He was a younger man than Shakaar and more impulsive. He was four years younger than him, precisely Kira's age. There was no history between Kira and him, but there was attraction. Tahna shamelessly flirted with her. He flirted with all the girls, but Kira found herself charmed anyway. She finally had something of a real crush on someone!

She never pictured herself being one of those girls that would simply tap a comrade on the shoulder to slip away and share a lover's embrace in one of the more private sections of the cave. Sisica had done that as frequently as she could before she dated Shakaar. Lupaza and Furel did it all the time together. Shakaar had slipped away with near every female soldier in the cell. Now Kira was starting to consider propositioning Tahna in such a way.

Daydreaming about the subject was a mere shadow of engaging such a plan into action, though. Kira was still so unsure about Tahna's feelings. Ever since her awkward encounter with Alled, though, she realized her body was awakened to desire when it had been slumbering before. If only the rest of her could hop on board. If Tahna didn't reject her, could she allow herself to become so vulnerable and intimate with a man? At least it was a Bajoran man and not a Cardassian with scaled skin taking what he wanted. She could regain her power with Tahna.

When Tahna took what was always Sisica's seat as the cell ate his first day, Kira wanted to shoo him away. She was still grieving the girl whose real name she had never learned. According to their limited information, she had been killed mishandling a bomb on her last mission. Not even Shakaar knew her surname or first name. She said she had an enormous family to protect and couldn't risk it. If they miraculously tracked down her family they might not be able to identify her. She had disfigured her face.

Kira still kept her mask, her earring, and her old bedding with her personal things. Maybe they could use the earring to find her family some day and clear up the mystery on both ends. Sisica had practically stopped talking in her last days, but Kira missed her green eyes and missed trying to make proper braids out of her beautiful brown hair. Sisica was aghast when Kira confessed she didn't know how to braid but she could tie military knots.

Tahna was impossible to shoo away. He flashed perfect smiles and sought Kira out as deliberately as Sisica had. He would sit close enough that their legs touched and she felt butterflies. He cracked jokes, teased, and made her participate in pranks on their comrades. It was good to have a clown in their cell and his presence was enormously positive most days.

He was no clown when it came to battle and killing Cardassians though. He became very serious about that. Not even Kira could compete with him. Before Tahna Los joined, it was Kira Nerys that held the record for most enemy kills. Tahna had shattered it in far less missions and in under a year.

Kira was flabbergasted. Discussing other people's missions was a bit taboo, but she was too curious. She asked Shakaar what Tahna's secret was and her leader frowned.

"That man is ruthless," he said gravely and with less and less stuttering. "You, Kira, don't hesitate to kill with your hands, a firearm, or an explosive. However, you always use the right method for the right reasons."

"So what is Tahna doing wrong?" Kira pressed. "Is he somehow too good? Aren't we terrorists and expected to do terrible things?"

Shakaar winced when she used that word. She hated it too, but it was what Cardassians and outsiders called them. There was no use avoiding it. They were not saints or devils. They were simply trying to liberate their people from alien conquerors from what should have been a neighbor planet. They had received less than neighborly treatment. Bajoran lives were a living nightmare!

"Tahna loves explosives, Nerys. He uses the most destructive methods every time. I will give you this colorful detail about his last mission: He blew up a supply ship. It had vital supplies we didn't want in the hands of the Cardassians, but only one measly Cardassian was overseeing it. The rest of the roster was other aliens. Instead of hijacking the ship, confiscating or destroying the goods, or simply killing the soldier and making a deal with the neutral aliens, Tahna mercilessly blew them all to smithereens."

Kira swallowed, "I'm sure he had no other options."

"Oh, he did, Nerys," Shakaar said softly. "He did."

"How do you know? Were you on the mission with him? Did you have someone spy for you?"

"No, but I asked him why it was so necessary to kill the entire crew. He simply stated that he fights for Bajor and only Bajorans. He hates aliens. All of them."

"Surely he was joking!"

"No!" Shakaar insisted. "Have you not heard his rants?"

"Rants about whom, the Cardassians? Everyone hates them and for good reason!"

"N-Nerys," Shakaar began to stutter.

"What else, Edon?" she urged gently.

She took one of his rough hands into her callused one. He gazed at their joined hands and returned to his brooding mood again. He must have become terribly embarrassed slipping into the stutter he had been shaking off so well. He might have broken his silence if she had been more patient, but she slipped away from him in annoyance and disappointment.

"Wanna' fight?" she tackled Tahna and mussed up his gorgeous blonde mop, relishing its texture between her fingers.

"Hell yes!" his eyes lit up.

They sparred vigorously. This was what Kira Nerys did for fun in her Resistance Days. Normal fun was rare and the exertions kept their blood warm in the drafty caves. Sparring with Tahna was especially exhilarating. They weren't rutting like lovers, but fighting was sometimes close enough for her. Oddly, it felt safer to her. Tahna seemed to enjoy it. He had never declined her offers and made the suggestion an equal number of times.

He bloodied her nose in the first few minutes. She chomped into his ear. He had neglected to remove his Bajoran earring before. She made him pay for that mistake. She had wisely pocketed her own before engaging him. Tahna cried out in pain and she tasted blood and metal. Was it sick that she didn't mind?

He shoved her hard enough that she lost her balance and slammed on her back against cold cave floor. He was on top of her the next second, trying to pin her arms down. She went limp, playing weak, and letting him think his force against her wrists was enough. Her fingers spayed against the ground. Then she savagely kicked, rocking him as he tried to straddle her. She let her reserve strength free and loosened one hand entirely.

She dug her nails into his throat as she squeezed it, drawing a little more blood. He seized the back of her head by her red hair, trying to crack her skull against the ground and daze her. She wrenched free, letting him tear out the fake extensions Sisica had placed in her short hair. She felt a terrible tug at her scalp as it went and tangled in his fingers, but she endured the pain and used a CQC move that trapped the confused Bajoran man quite nicely.

"Good one, Kira," Tahna said as he tapped out. "Is your hair color fake too?"

She slapped him in the face for that, "Nope! I'm a natural woman!"

"You're a damn good fighter!" Tahna tried to adjust his earring. "I hoped your hair color was real. It matches your spirit and it's sexy. The short pixie cut gives you spunk too."

She blushed, unsure how to respond to the compliments. They both needed to nurse their hurts. She had felt something when he straddled her during the fight. She hoped her body showed no obvious signs of her own. She tried her best to conceal her adrenaline and hormones.

"Did you two get carried away again?" Furel groaned when he gave them some healing herbs. "You shouldn't be so rough! It's supposed to be training exercises, not real combat. These things do grow on trees, but it's got a short growing and harvest season! I'm not giving these out so generously next time!"

"Fair enough."

"Lupaza, can you help me fix my hair?" Kira sang.

"Sure thing!"

Lupaza was still working the extensions back into her hair when Shakaar came lumbering into their space of the cave. He saw Kira's nose and stroked the ridges of it with concern. She slapped his hand. A Bajoran's nose ridges, especially those of their females, were incredibly sensitive to touch, smells, temperature and pheromones.

"That hurts, you know!"

"Sorry," he said gruffly. "What happened?"

"Just a sparring session."

"Oh."

"Oh?"

"Just, oh. I hope you gave Tahna much worse."

She smiled sardonically, "If it was real combat, he might have lost his ear."

"Kira-"

"Don't you lecture me!"

"I was going to say: Good for you! Spar with me again some time."

"Maybe."

The cell began to hear rumors of a splinter group of the Resistance on Bajor called the Kohn-Ma. They were true terrorists, but fighting on the same side as they were. Some of her comrades were discussing leaving Shakaar to join them. Kira avoided such discussions as much as she could. The thought of leaving her leader had never truly crossed her mind before. It would be like leaving a family to join a cult. She had become close to Lupaza and Furel. She was more than fond of Tahna Los.

Kira was reading a stolen propaganda novel written by Cardassians alongside Tahna. They read it aloud to each other and laughed as they made a mockery of it. They were getting far too friendly for Shakaar's comfort. Their heads were tilted so that their foreheads almost touched. Kira rested her head on his shoulder. He was stroking the small of her back. Kira's behavior with him lately reminded Shakaar of a giggling school girl. If she only realized it, she would wonder what had become of the old Kira Nerys.

It wasn't unhealthy or unusual for Kira to be attracted to someone. Shakaar should find it an encouraging sign. He should be happy for her. He wasn't her father or brother and had no claim to her. He was her friend, though, and a subconscious part of him was insanely jealous. She had no clue that Tahna didn't deserve her affections. She deserved so much better.

"Kira, let's spar!" he called to her, trying to get her attention away from that troublesome Bajoran.

She didn't seem to hear and Tahna's voice picked up volume and inflection as he droned on in a voice sounding suspiciously like the leader of the Occupation Dukat. That Cardassian's awful voice had been heard too often on Bajor not be recognized instantaneously. Kira's chirping laugh rang shrilly and the rest of the cell began to laugh with her. They were blind to Tahna's manipulative ways, but Kira was usually one of the smarter ones. Shakaar was sure Tahna had heard him even if Kira hadn't and was being obnoxious on purpose.

"Nerys!" Shakaar leaned down into her face.

"In the name of the Prophets, what?" she hissed through her teeth.

She didn't appreciate him interrupting their dramatic reading or his hot and cold attitude.

"We need to spar. I haven't observed your CQC in a while. I want to see what new things you might have learned."

"Fine!"

She joined him in the sparring ring. She charged immediately. He simply stepped to the side. She huffed and charged again predictably. He dodged lazily. She froze in place to glare at him and he moved lightning quick, slipping her feet out from under her and placing her into a brutal headlock. She cursed at him.

"What?" he barked. "Tahna didn't show you some twisted technique to get out of this? There is a way out. I taught you the move years ago. Did you forget so soon, Kira?"

"Uh…" she trailed off, face flushed.

"Prophets, you did!" he roared.

He released her and she hesitated. Then she crouched on all fours like a predatory cat, anticipating. Shakaar watched her, standing still as stone and his expression just as hard.

"Come on!" she yelled. "What are you waiting for, Shakaar?"

He opened his mouth, teasing an answer, but one never came. Kira cried out in frustration and lunged. He pivoted and she twisted back, catching him at last and gripping an arm as she tried to knee his groin.

"Juvenile and cheap!" he spat and avoided her.

He was stronger and heavier than Tahna. He threw her easily to the ground. The wind was knocked out of her. Shakaar patiently waited as she gasped for air.

"What are you waiting for?" Kira repeated. "I haven't tapped out yet."

"I don't really want to spar. I've seen enough. I wanted to talk."

Shakaar sat down. She rolled her eyes. She sat cross legged where she was. If he was going to spar with words, she'd let him charge head first and defend herself this time.

"Has Tahna tried to recruit you yet?" Shakaar fired the question.

"Recruit me? What are you talking about?"

"I am talking about the Kohn-Ma."

Her breath caught in her throat. She shook her head.

"Good because I suspect now that he is one of theirs and was never mine. He joined this cell just to get his real leader more zealots. Did I tell you that on his last mission he tortured a kid?"

"What?"

"A Cardassian kid. He said he only used some minor water boarding techniques, but the boy knew nothing. He was on his way to visit his father for a single weekend and Tahna snatched him from a shuttle. He used the excuse that with Cardassians, you can't guess their age very accurately. I didn't really believe him."

Kira was picturing the Tahna she thought she knew cheerfully drowning a little boy. There was too much dissonance to hold that image for long.

"You really don't like Tahna Los! This seems personal! Aren't you the one that first recruited him?"

"I did. I started to regret it almost instantly. I also don't like the influence he is having on you, Kira."

"I have a slight crush, I admit it! That doesn't mean a damn thing! Why can't I have a crush? You flirt and so does he! What-"

"Do you think he has some sort of 'special' bond with you?" Shakaar wasn't usually so quick with questions and his stutter was completely absent. "Do you realize that his goal might simply be to get you into bed with him and then into bed with the Kohn-Ma?"

She flashed her eyes and said sarcastically, "Oh yes, because he couldn't possibly like me! You must be right! The only men that want someone like me are the slimy Cardassians!"

Shakaar pulled her into a hug suddenly. They had been so cold to each other so long. She had forgotten how comforting his arms were. He smelled of gunpowder and sweat. She knew she did too. This man was her family, and unlike her family, he was still alive. She squeezed him back with affection. Maybe she had been taking him for granted.

"Shakaar," she said in his ear, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" he pulled his head back to look her in the eyes.

"I-I-I," she cursed. "I'm no good at this."

He smiled, "I get it. I passed my stutter onto you!"

Shakaar wasn't usually a joker. It was rarer than a long spring in their part of Bajor. She laughed and his smile broadened.

"Edon," she tried again. "I forgive you for, you know, that disastrous mission. I didn't even need your protection. Alled didn't hurt me. I never lied about that."

"Yes, but he could have. If he had wanted to hurt you, I was not there to stop him as I promised you I would be. I apologized once, but I'm doing it again. I should have been better. I will be better and not just in that aspect. If you want to start a cell of your own, you can."

"What do you mean?"

"I would miss you, Nerys, but you could lead a cell very competently. I would let you go. But don't fall for Tahna's lies."

"Lucky for you that loyalty means something to me."

"It means a lot to me as well. And so do you. We have a raid planned soon. I'm our comrade will show his true colors then."

The raid was what would be recorded as the infamous Haru Outpost Raid. The entire Resistance collaborated on it, a rare event indeed. Kira had nightmares from that particular raid the rest of her life. She wasn't proud of what she and the Bajorans did and couldn't bear repeating what happened even to Odo later. The shame was too great, and the Changeling's opinion and judgment of her might have been too much for her to bear. Only her comrades would share in that grisly bond and that was because she was there.

She told herself in the moment that it was revenge for Gallitep and the concentration camps the Cardassians used to work to death and slaughter whole populations of Bajorans. The Kohn-Ma were the cruelest avengers on the battlefield, and sure enough, Tahna Los pulled her aside afterward. They were both covered in gore. Kira was little shell-shocked and her ears ringing.

"Kira," he began. "I am part of the Kohn-Ma."

She laughed bitterly, "Shakaar thought you were. You didn't fool him. You fooled a lot of people. You like fooling people, don't you? You acted like a clown, but you were mocking us all along. We were just a joke to you."

"Shakaar and the rest are. But not you," he answered quickly. "You have the fire of the Kohn-Ma in you, Kira! Come with me! Join us! You were amazing today! You kept your cool around all that death! Bajor needs you, the Kohn-Ma needs you, and I need you."

He cupped her face and teased a kiss, but she stopped him. Her eyes had wandered blindly while Tahna made his appeal. What he said should have been exactly what she wanted to hear, but she recognized one of the Cardassian soldiers lying dead and her heart almost stopped beating.

"No," she squeaked.

"No?"

"I said: NO!"

She shoved him aside and frantically searched the body, praying that the face was only similar. Bajoran earrings were their 'dog tags'. Cardassians had ID of their own. She found his and saw the name in Cardassian glyphs. _Alled Galex_. She let out a strangled wail of anguish and grief. She was surprised at first, because the sound she made was for a Cardassian!

Tahna Los had gone. Shakaar Edon was by her side instead. She wouldn't see Tahna again for years and by the time she did, her crush had dissolved and was forgotten entirely. He would lie to her and manipulate her again. Sometimes she stubbornly refused to learn her lesson.

Shakaar recognized Alled. He wasn't nearly as distressed as Kira was, but he understood to a slight degree why there were tears streaming down her face. He was the one Cardassian lying butchered here that didn't deserve it. Kira Nerys had spared him only to find him dead at some other Bajoran's hands.

"I didn't kill him!" he insisted.

"I know," she replied.

Her harmless little garden snake and the first man that she had ever kissed was dead. He would never go home to Cardassia. He had never wanted any part in the Occupation. He had appealed to be transferred and it looked like his superiors had denied him over and over again. His death didn't ease her pain at all. He would be yet another face that haunted her in her dreams forevermore.


End file.
